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Sheriff standing tall

Sheriff Matt Lutz’s decision to kill dozens of wild animals for the sake of public safety has cast him in a harsh spotlight worldwide. But those who know the Muskingum County lawman and work under him say his leadership made the difference on a night of no-win decisions.

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View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoJonathan Quilter | DISPATCH photosMuskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz kept a cool tone at news conferences that cracked just once — over talk about a grisly photo.

ZANESVILLE, Ohio — Muskingum County
Sheriff Matt Lutz checked his watch as he strode through the rain and mud to a makeshift news-media
tent in a gravel parking lot on Wednesday.

He ducked inside and stepped up to a small, wooden lectern borrowed from the local Moose Lodge
to address television and newspaper reporters eager for the latest information about the
intentional release the day before of more than 50 wild animals into the hills near here by an
eccentric animal collector who had killed himself.

It was about 7:05 p.m.

Lutz announced that he had five or ten minutes and then let each reporter ask a single
question.

“It’s time, sheriff,” a deputy at the back of the tent said.

With that, Lutz excused himself and left the news crews who had traveled from across the Midwest
to follow the story. He had something very important to do: His 16-year-old daughter was being
inducted into the National Honor Society at 7:30 p.m., and he wasn’t about to miss the
ceremony.

Those who know him say the scene sums up Lutz perfectly: a family man and dedicated officer who
knows when to take command and when to delegate responsibility.

Thrust into a national — and even international — spotlight when Terry W. Thompson released his
menagerie of animals, including wolves, tigers, lions, bears and monkeys, before committing
suicide, Lutz earned the admiration of his officers and fellow county officials and the ire of
animal lovers across the country for his decisions on Tuesday night.

His officers say Lutz’s leadership made their difficult job of shooting the animals possible and
credit him for protecting county residents’ safety.

Patrol Capt. Jeff LeCocq said the 43-year-old Lutz in many ways takes after his father, a
lieutenant with the sheriff’s office who was killed while trying to stop a robbery at a Zanesville
gas station on July 12, 1994. Mourned as a fallen hero by the twin communities of Philo and Duncan
Falls where he lived and raised his son, Lt. Mike Lutz was eulogized as an officer who embodied the
phrase “to protect and serve.”

Matt Lutz was a deputy at the time and inherited his dad’s lead-by-example attitude, LeCocq
said. “Matt has so many of those leadership qualities. You know he’s going to meet problems
head-on.”

LeCocq said he was in downtown Zanesville on Tuesday when he got the first call from the shift
sergeant who had just arrived at Thompson’s farm. He relayed the information in a phone call to
Lutz, who was just arriving home. Within minutes, Lutz was back on the road toward Thompson’s,
giving orders by radio and telephone.

Muskingum County Prosecutor D. Michael Haddox agreed that Lutz’s ability to quickly assess and
take charge of a situation is driven in part by growing up in a law-enforcement family.

“His dad was a wonderful officer, and his mom is a great person, as well,” Haddox said. “They
instilled in him a great system of morals. Matt doesn’t worry about things like politics or
appearances; he just gets the job done and gets it done right.”

Steve Rice, principal of Duncan Falls Elementary School, was Lutz’s high-school football coach,
but got to know him before he was old enough to play because of Lutz’s determination to be a part
of the program. Rice said Lutz came to his room every day after his sixth-grade classes and served
as water boy and equipment manager.

“He showed so much respect, you had to be respectful back,” Rice said.

Lutz said growing up in a law-enforcement household taught him to mind his manners. After all,
if he did anything wrong, his dad was sure to hear about it.

Being the son of a deputy sheriff didn’t automatically translate into a desire to be an officer
himself, though. “I wasn’t a kid who at 5 years old said, ‘I’m going to be sheriff,’” he said.

As a teenager, he played sports and raced stock cars with his father on a nearby dirt track,
unsure of what he wanted after high school. His father told him to at least attend the police
academy at nearby Muskingum Area Technical College, now Zane State University, because he would
always have the certification.

A short stint as a security guard led him to complete his criminal-justice degree at the school,
and he eventually got a job as a dispatcher for the sheriff’s office.

Then he had no doubt that this was what he wanted to do with his life.

Advice his father gave his mother about buying the Duncan Falls restaurant she then owned for
more than 20 years turned out to work for him, as well.

“When my mom still worked at the restaurant, he said, ‘If you don’t agree with how it’s being
run or think you can run it better, then go ahead and buy it,’” Lutz recalled. “Basically, I used
that advice as, if I’m going to make a career out of this, why not make it as the person leading
the office?”

Thrown onto a national stage by the release and subsequent killing of Thompson’s animals, Lutz
handled the news media much in the way he handles day-to-day operations, he said. Relying on media
training he received through the Ohio attorney general’s office, Lutz said he knew to schedule news
conferences well in advance and to update reporters at each conference with new information and no
speculation.

Lutz admitted that he didn’t foresee how big a story the situation would become, but he stayed
in constant contact with his captains, the prosecutor and the county emergency-management director,
who shared tips and advice on handling reporters.

In news conferences and TV appearances, Lutz maintained a cool, matter-of-fact tone that cracked
only once — when he was addressing the issue of a now-viral photograph showing the carcasses of the
animals. Speculation was that someone from the sheriff’s office had leaked the photo. Lutz’s anger
was apparent when he said that if that were the case, the person would be disciplined.

“Any type of death, whether a human death or an animal death, is going to be graphic,” he said. “
There’s absolutely no reason for that picture to be distributed.”

Lutz said he knows that many people are unhappy that the animals were shot but that he and his
officers were headed into a horrible situation. In no way was he going to make it worse by allowing
the animals to escape into the community.

“It was a no-win situation from the start,” he said. “Any way, it was going to be tragic.”